Right-of-Way Procurement
for Pipelines and Energy Projects
Easements, servitudes and surface agreements for pipelines, gathering systems, access roads and facilities, acquired tract by tract along your route from Lafayette, Louisiana. Ownership research, negotiation, execution, recording and a file your project can build on.
A route is a
list of owners
A pipeline or facility project needs a signed agreement from every owner the route crosses, and the record has to support each signature. We start with ownership along the alignment your engineers give us, then negotiate, execute and record the agreements inside the parameters you set, and deliver a right-of-way file organized per tract.
J.P. Hesterly & Associates is led by a fourth-generation landman, and the leadership team brings over 60 years of combined experience to landowner work. We are landmen, not surveyors or engineers: the alignment, the plats and the exhibits come from your survey and engineering team, and we put the agreements behind them.
What shapes the job
Right-of-way programs scope by the route, not by the mile alone, so we do not quote a standard timeline. These set the size of the work.
The number of ownerships the line crosses, including fractional and absentee owners, sets the program more than its length does.
Successions, usufructs, co-owned tracts and trusts take more research and more signatures.
Permanent easement, temporary workspace, access roads, valve sites and facility sites each need their own description and agreement.
Your easement form, your compensation parameters and your damage schedule. We negotiate inside them.
Alignment sheets and tract plats from your surveyor are the basis for each agreement. The earlier they are ready, the faster the agreements follow.
A construction start or a regulatory milestone sets the order in which tracts get worked.
What you get
A finished right-of-way engagement typically includes:
Each tract the line crosses, its owner of record, fractional interests and the instruments that establish them.
Who was contacted, when, what was offered and what was agreed, tract by tract.
Easements, servitudes, surface use and temporary workspace agreements on your form, with your surveyor's exhibits attached.
Agreements recorded with the parish or county recording office, with recording data returned.
Agreement, ownership support, exhibits, payment records and correspondence per tract, with a route status report.
How the work runs
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01Scope
You send the alignment, the tract plats as they become available, your forms and parameters, and the construction schedule.
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02Ownership research
Owner of record and fractional interests for every tract on the route, from conveyance, mortgage and probate records.
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03Contact
Each owner contacted, the project and the exhibits explained, questions answered before any terms are discussed.
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04Negotiation
Terms negotiated inside your parameters, with anything outside them brought back to you.
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05Execution and recording
Agreements executed, payments documented, instruments recorded.
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06Right-of-way file
Everything delivered per tract with a status report of signed, pending and unresolved tracts.
The Louisiana angle
In Louisiana a pipeline right-of-way is a servitude under the Civil Code, recorded with the parish clerk of court, and the questions of who can grant it follow civil-law ownership: co-owners, usufructuaries and heirs in an unsettled succession each affect whether a signature binds the tract. Ownership research along a route has to sort those out before the first offer goes out, so the recorded servitude holds up when the line is built.
We work those questions from Lafayette. Outside Louisiana, the same research, negotiation and recording process runs under each state's own easement and recording rules.
Who hires us
- Pipeline and gathering system projectsthat need easements and workspace along a route.
- Operatorsbuilding access roads, flowlines, pad sites and facilities on surface they do not own.
- Project and land teamsthat need a route run end to end, or an extra team for a push.
Before you call
Do you survey the route or prepare the plats?
No. We are landmen, not surveyors. Alignment sheets, tract plats and legal descriptions come from your survey and engineering team, and we attach them to the agreements we acquire.
What do you need from us to scope a right-of-way program?
The alignment, the construction schedule, your easement form and compensation parameters, and any tract plats or ownership work already done.
Do you handle temporary workspace and access roads too?
Yes. Permanent easement, temporary workspace, access and facility sites each get their own agreement or provision, on your form.
Do you record the agreements?
Yes. Agreements are recorded with the parish or county recording office and the recording data comes back in the right-of-way file.
Do you work outside Louisiana?
Yes. The firm has worked in Louisiana, Colorado, Mississippi, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and West Virginia.
Send the route
and the schedule
Tell us where the route runs, what the project needs from each tract and when construction starts. We will scope the program and tell you what you will receive.
Suite C-1
Lafayette, LA 70503